Cuban dissidents shaken by U.S. rapprochement, seek new tactics

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s decision to end five decades of
enmity with Cuba has shaken the island’s political dissidents, dividing
their ranks and forcing them to rethink tactics.

Throughout the Cold War and beyond, the United States relied on the
small dissident movement to lead domestic opposition to Cuba’s communist
government and keep track of human rights abuses.

So after Obama last week tore up the tough, decades-old policy aimed at
crippling Cuba, some dissidents feel betrayed and unsure of their
movement, which infuriates the government and has limited public support.

The United States will still encourage Cubans to push for more political
rights but it now has its own direct channel to President Raul Castro’s
government, raising uncertainty about the dissidents’ future value to
the Americans.

While some dissident leaders welcomed the policy shift for stripping
Cuba’s government of excuses for economic shortages and strict political
control, others complained the deal was negotiated without their
knowledge and against their will.

“President Obama has made a mistake,” said Berta Soler, leader of
the Ladies in White, a largely Roman Catholic group that has protest
marches each Sunday. “This is going to benefit the Cuban government,
strengthening and equipping its repressive machine.”

While her group was marching on the streets, enduring harassment and
detention, the U.S. government was engaged in secret talks with Havana
over the past 18 months.

Guillermo Fariñas, who was detained like clockwork at 38 consecutive
weekly protests outside his home this year in the city of Santa Clara,
was even more blunt.

“I feel betrayed,” said Fariñas, who was bothered by the secrecy of the
talks and said the views of dissidents were discounted. “I know some
people are offended by that word, but I use it on purpose.”

Fariñas was in the minority during a landmark meeting of 29 dissidents
from across Cuba who gathered for 10 hours on Monday at the office of
14ymedio, the news and opinion website of prominent blogger Yoani Sanchez.

Soler did not attend. Other senior dissident leaders either welcomed
Obama’s policy shift or accepted it as a reality beyond their control.

In a joint statement, they applauded the prisoner swap that allowed the
release of U.S. foreign aid worker Alan Gross and more than 50
unidentified Cuban prisoners.

A U.S. official described the freed Cubans as political prisoners, but
the dissidents have yet to confirm any of their people were released,
leaving them wondering who exactly the United States fought to get free.

SEEKING UNITY

Participants in the meeting said they aired their differences inside but
then agreed to present a united front. Reporters and diplomats were
banned and all 29 dissidents placed their cell phones in a basket for
the entire 10 hours.

Veteran leader Elizardo Sanchez declined to define the sharpest points
of disagreement, but said they all recognized that Obama’s move required
a new approach to pressuring the government and seeking popular support.

“With this change, the discourse of the government has to change, and so
does ours … Now is the time for us to readjust our tactics due to the
changing political scene,” Sanchez said.

They have only just started thinking about what those tactics might be.

Cuba’s government routinely accuses dissidents of being “mercenaries” of
the U.S. government and many Cubans are skeptical about their motives,
believing they are driven by the modest economic aide afforded by
foreign groups.

Still, Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, said
he was optimistic. “There’s a new dynamic and we think it will be very
positive for the future of Cuba.”

The 29 reaffirmed their demands for multiparty elections, the release of
all political prisoners and respect for the United Nations’ Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.

But the discord from the Ladies in White was notable.

Images of Cuban police roughing up the Ladies in White at demonstrations
have raised their profile, placing them among the most celebrated
dissidents in the United States, along with Yoani Sanchez.

She has yet to offer strong opinions about the U.S. policy change, but
other young dissidents have decided to embrace it.

“The worst thing we can do is cry about what happened,” said Eliecer
Avila, 29, the leader of Somos Mas (We Are More). “We should take Raul
and Obama at their word. There was never a better opportunity than now
for us bring our peoples together, and this is an opportunity we should
not pass up.”

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